DUBAI is forecast to be one of the fastest growing tourist destinations over the next ten years and airlines in the Middle East are looking to take advantage of this potential. The likes of British Airways and Emirates Airline have already secured a lucrative slice of the market from the UK but from June 21 the two airlines will face competition from Gulf Air, who are to launch a new daily service between Dubai and London's Heathrow airport. Gulf Air, which is jointly owned by the Kingdoms of Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, already offers links to Dubai, via Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Muscat, but with the addition of this new non-stop service, will become the largest operator of services from London to the Gulf, with 33 weekly frequencies. The past two years have seen Gulf Air completely turn around its business and the airline has reported a 12.1 per cent increase in revenues for the past year, reducing its losses by more than a half from US$108 million to US$52 million. The positive changes, part of the airline's Project Falcon turnaround programme, are designed to return the airline to profitability by 2005.
http://www.gulfairco.com